BY MILES LAYTON
Here are a few odds and ends from this past week’s Edenton Town Council meeting.
Yes, Hotel Hinton was the big story. Other day, I was talking to a prominent citizen – she has a fantastic rose garden on South Moseley Street. We both agree that while a 12-month time frame to complete the renovations to Hotel Hinton is challenging, Dawson Tyler and his crew at Down East Preservation are up to the task — see our story. Remember the name James Wilson.
Consider this — with a prominent business like SAGA and a noted company like Down East teaming up to restore Hotel Hinton, which is no small venture, that means Edenton has “game” because Chowan County’s fortunes may be on the rise.
Toward that end, Town Council and the Chowan County Commission have grappled with ways to provide affordable housing so as to attract residents and workers to the area.
While talk of Hotel Hinton sucked the air out of the room at the Council meeting, deservedly so, discussion of a bigger story was tabled until a future meeting – a possible apartment complex at 1311 Paradise Road, if the Council approves that development.
SAGA’s ambitious project – Beechwood Apartments – would consist of 144 rental units, 1-3 bedrooms each, with a small clubhouse and swimming pool, according to a letter (March 3) from SAGA Development Coordinator Erin Dunigan to Town Hall. The exterior of the buildings would be designed to look in place with the Town of Edenton.
“We plan to price and market these units to local workers, new families and retirees… We understand the Town’s need for this housing option, and we are excited about working with the Town to bring it to fruition,” Dunigan wrote.
SAGA Construction, with the property owner being Edenton Holdings LLC, seeks approval for a Major Special Use Permit to change the zoning from residential to medium/high density residential. There was to be a public hearing and a discussion of the matter at Monday’s Council meeting, but these folks asked to reschedule the meeting for a later date.
Where is that 23.75-acre parcel that may be the future home of Beechwood Apartments? Answer – that land is located beside/behind East Carolina Radio – look for the radio tower.
How do you get there? Either turn onto the road beside the Shell Station (where the SAGA sign is) or, as you leave Edenton on Paradise Road, turn left onto that unmarked road before passing Coston Lane which’ll be on your right, a hop, skip and jump ahead.
See/download Council’s agenda packet at the end of this story to get more information.
Worth noting, Town Hall purchased two legal ads – $84.50 and $109 (Total: $193.50) – in the local media, as required by law, to announce Monday’s meeting to discuss the Major Special Use Permit. Because the property developers/owners didn’t attend the meeting, the Town Hall is out $193.50 spent on ads circulated through the local media’s huge subscriber base (sarcasm).
Town Hall – though you still have to pay deadtree media to run legals because of an outdated state law that subsidizes an obsolete print media, please consider sending future legals this way too. The Albemarle Observer will publish them (public record after all) for free so that our community knows what’s going on. Based on our proven metrics, we reach more people, several thousand more people each week — business owners, what a great place to advertise!
In other news, Council approved a resolution joining a growing chorus of voices in Eastern NC that oppose Raleigh’s most recent power grab.
If it becomes law, House Bill 765 – An Act to Reform Local Government Development Regulations in this State – would enact changes affecting local government planning, zoning and development regulations.
Imagine, just imagine, that if this law passes, people might have to travel to Raleigh to voice their opinions about the future development of a giant apartment complex…
Let that sink in for a minute – the state, in all its wisdom, wants more power to dictate rules about how, when and where property development takes place rather than local regulatory and zoning authorities who know the lay of the land in their communities quite a bit better than Raleigh’s Kommissar central planners who covet a one-size-fits-all approach.
Recently, the Chowan County Commission roundly condemned HB 765 with a resolution opposing the bill in “favor of legislation that respects local authority, reduces regulatory burdens and promotes flexible, community-driven development strategies.”
In other business, Watercraft Rental Services wants to set up a boat rental service in Edenton this summer, maybe by Memorial Day. Thus, if you want to rent a pontoon boat that holds at least a dozen people, reach out to them when they get set up at Scotty’s Marina.
In other matters, Council is studying a balloon release/litter ordinance as suggested by Susan Inglis of Water Street. The question for council members are poised to consider – how many balloons make it litter? No one wants the po-po to show up at a child’s birthday party and then arrest Grandad because he released too many balloons.
Remember, if you release too many balloons, you might start a nuclear war – don’t believe me!? Then ask Nena — she knew what would happen if you released 99 balloons during the Cold War.
Main Street Edenton Executive Director Ches Chesson and Michelle Maddox of the Edenton Chowan Partnership gave a joint presentation about ongoing and future economic development in our area. More on that in a future story.
Town of Edenton’s new Public Information Officer Megan Weiss officially introduced herself to Council and the community. For the past three years, Weiss served as the administrative assistant and office manager for the Chamber of Commerce, Chowan County Tourism Development Authority and the Edenton-Chowan Partnership.
And wow, that trip for Town leaders to attend a Main Street Now conference held in early April in Philadelphia was not as expensive as I thought it would be – only around $3,000.
According to the Main Street Now website, the conference was a one-of-a-kind event, providing attendees with an opportunity to convene and learn about the innovative methods and practices that make the Main Street Approach one of the most powerful economic development tools in the nation. It was hosted by Main Street America, a nonprofit organization leading the movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
While I’m a cost conservative who is leery of politicians taking taxpayer funded junkets to other cities – I once wrote about a Hertford’s councilman’s expensive misadventures attending a conference in San Antonio – I will concede that these conferences offer opportunities to learn new things. Town leaders had an opportunity to visit James Wilson’s burial site.
FLASHBACK — A Founding Father and a former US Supreme Court Justice, Wilson was buried just outside of Edenton, on property owned by former governor and U.S. Sen. Samuel Johnston. In 1906, under the direction of President Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson was exhumed and reburied in Christ Church’s cemetery in Philadelphia.
Let’s pull a Connections’ James Burke, famous historian, to round Wilson’s story back to Hotel Hinton where we began this article. Back in ye old days, hotels and taverns were where travelers stayed — if you warranted a tavern or hotel, that meant you had “game” because no one would ride horseback or walk to a town without a place to stay. Today too, if there is no affordable place to live, workers and their families will seek opportunities elsewhere.
In 1798, while on Federal circuit court business, Wilson took residence in the Horniblow Tavern, now where Hotel Hinton is located next to the 1767 Chowan County Courthouse. Though Wilson passed away in his tiny room at the tavern on August 21, 1798, at the age of 55, he left a lasting legacy of service to our nation.
Another side note, Harriet Jacobs’ grandmother Molly worked in that tavern years and years later. Jacobs’ wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl about slavery in Edenton/Chowan County.
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